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T-Rex
The greatest robot that never was, the T-Rex was a fully-autonomous robot designed and briefly produced by Rex Corp with military service in mind. It had strong armor and a potent array of weapon systems. The project was shut down before mass production began due to a violent accident. History The T-Rex's history is a bit of a mess. In 1980, Rex engineers created a design for a military grade robot under the designation "Big 3". The Big 3 never made it past the concept stages but some of its features made it into later Rex models. In 1998, the US army went in to talks with the company to design and manufacture robots with military service in mind. That year Rex began hiring engineers and ex-military strategists to work on "Project Wolfram". It wasn't until 2008 that Rex changed the name to T-Rex. Rex's tendency to have the word Rex in the names of their products was probably the reason for the change. It is also noted in a Rex document that "T" was chosen both because of the famed dinosaur, Tyranosaurus, and because of Tungsten. Wolfram being another name for the metal. The prior to the incident on August 14, the T-Rex was exceeding the US Army's requirements for a combat robot. Initial requirements stated that the T-Rex must: -Be able to maintain a constant landspeed of 15mph or more over rough terrain. -Have a minimum range of 150 miles. -Be able to outmaneuver a main battle tank. -Be resistant to anti-armor munitions. -Be able to operate in a number of weather conditions. The T-Rex met all of these requirements in one way or another. Much of the tech developed for the T-Rex would eventually appear in the Turbo. Designs and Models Only fourteen T-Rexes were ever produced. The first production run made four bare-bones prototype T-Rexes. They were used for locomotion and balance tests. These units were radio controlled and didn't have an AI implanted. According to Rex Corp records, three of the four were decommissioned. The last one was used as an ornament in the lobby of the Rex Corp main building. They were painted white and yellow. The second and third production cycles created two pairs of T-Rexes that were used to test basic weapon systems. The differences between the two pairs were their control sources. The first pair used an AI, similar to the early Rexes. The second pair however were cyborgs, utilizing a cloned brain instead. After a few months of testing the cyborgs units contracted infections and had to be shut down. One of the cyborgs was so corroded that it had to be fully disassembled. The fourth production cycle created four, highly detailed, units that were to be used to show to investors and other interested parties. These "show" models had detailed, gunmetal paint jobs and an abundance of lights and fins that highlighted the edges of the design. These four T-Rexes were the ones involved with the incident that would result in the entire project being cancelled. In early September 2009, Rex Corp manufactured two, fully-loaded T-Rexes. Although they never saw combat, they were to be the basis of the mass produced T-Rexes. These final models were painted with the UCP. Variants The models of the T-Rex that used AI and computer processors did so using the Eclispe AI. This series of programs was never finalized and so does not operate efficiently, running into many errors and locking up frequently. Planned features from the Eclipse AI would be ported over into the more complete Meteor system that was utilized by some Turbo models. The cyborgs variants of the T-Rex were by far more successful. They lacked the sluggish, error prone nature that the AI variants were known for. It was the consensus of Rex engineers that had the cyborg variants been shown at the August 14 disaster, there would have been no loss of life and the T-Rex project would have been finished. Weapon Systems The T-Rex had a variety of weapons for use against armored opponents as well as infantry. Category:Robot Category:Cyborg